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Dolphins Game Summary: Bengals Squeak Past Dolphins |  | ||||||||
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The Dolphins had one of their worst offensive performances in recent memory on Sunday night as they dropped a close contest to the Cincinnati Bengals 16-13. The offensive line, in particular, played a very poor game, allowing constant pressure on AJ Feeley and permitting Lamar Gordon to get hammered in the backfield repeatedly. Despite this dismal performance by the offense, the Dolphins were in this game until the final seconds, when a late field goal put the Bengals over the top. The game was a Sunday night game on ESPN and began at 8:30 PM, EST. The weather was pleasant, clear and mild, with a gametime temperature of 72 degrees and a light breeze from the Northeast. The Dolphins were without Rob Konrad and Tim Bowens for the second week in a row, with Doug Easlick filling in at fullback and Bryan Robinson starting at defensive tackle. AJ Feeley got his first start at quarterback and Lamar Gordon started at running back, while Will Poole started at cornerback, filling in for Patrick Surtain and Reggie Howard. Most of the game consisted of short drives and punts. In the first 3 quarters, the longest drive by either team was 35 yards by the Dolphins, while the most plays in a row was 8 for a blistering 14 yards by the Bengals. The Bengals did score a touchdown on an interception return, but until 4:57 remaining in the game, both teams pretty much ran 3 or 6 plays and then either punted or lost the ball on a turnover. The Dolphins had 16 drives in this game, of which 10 ended in punts after either 3 and out or 1 first down. 2 drives died with interceptions and 1 was stopped when the game ended. The Bengals' numbers were similar. Both offenses were throttled by the opposition's defense. The Dolphins' defense had an outstanding game, giving up no touchdowns and holding the Bengals' offense to 210 total yards at an average of 2.9 yards per play. The Dolphins used a combination of blitzes and pressure from the defensive line to sack Carson Palmer 5 times and shut down the Bengals' running game. Unfortunately the Dolphins' offensive line played such a horrible game that the Bengals' defense didn't have to be all that good to stop the Dolphins. So poor was the offensive line blocking that Lamar Gordon was stopped for a loss 7 times in 19 carries. Even though he was only sacked twice, AJ Feeley was constantly harassed and hit in the backfield. Late in the 4th quarter, the Bengals had a 13-3 lead after scoring a touchdown on an interception return and a couple of field goals. The Dolphins got the ball at their 47 after a short punt and with the Bengals laying off the blitz a little bit because it was late in the game, Feeley hit a 20 yard pass to Lamar Gordon, followed by a 29 yard pass to Randy McMichael down to the Bengals' 4. From there, Feeley rifled the ball towards Chris Chambers in the back of the endzone. The ball bounced through the hands of Duane Clemons and up into the air. It came down into the hands of Chris Chambers who managed to grab it and get both feet down in the endzone for the Dolphins only touchdown. The Dolphins stopped the Bengals on their next possession and Lamont Brightful returned the ball 36 yards on the ensuing punt to the Bengals' 31. This allowed Olindo Mare' to hit a 47 yard field goal and tie the game with 1:56 remaining. The Bengals got the ball back after the kickoff and drove down the field for the winning field goal - the only drive the Dolphins allowed that was longer than 29 yards. The key play for the Bengals on this drive was on 1st and 10 from their 48, when they gained 2 yards. It was key because Will Poole was injured on that play and even though he was OK, he had to sit out the following play. On the next play, 3rd string cornerback Jimmy Wyrick was trying to cover Chad Johnson, but Johnson caught a pass for 20 yards that put the Bengals in field goal range and effectively ended the game. That was the longest play the Dolphins gave up the whole game. The offense had one of the worst games I've ever seen a Dolphins' offense play. It all started on the offensive line, which played terribly. Either the blocking scheme or the teaching of that scheme was sorely lacking because many of the Dolphins' offensive plays were blown up when more than one Bengals' player got to either the quarterback or the running back totally untouched. Other times, Dolphins' offensive linemen would double-team an interior defensive lineman, only to have a Bengals' player run outside and get to either Lamar Gordon or AJ Feeley. When the Dolphins did get a play off, they often didn't execute properly. On the interception returned for a touchdown, Feeley clearly expected Chris Chambers to turn one way and Chambers turned the other. As bad as the offense played, the defense was just the opposite - they were terrific. They held the Bengals to 210 total yards on an average of just 2.9 yards per offensive play while not allowing a touchdown. They sacked Carson Palmer 5 times and the longest gain of any kind they allowed was 20 yards. The defense blitzed a lot more than they have in the past and it was effective, with 2 of the sacks coming on blitzes. The pass coverage was generally outstanding and the run defense suffocating. The only black mark on their performance was allowing the Bengals to drive 59 yards for the winning field goal. While that is not a trivial failure, you have to expect that a pro-bowl receiver is going to beat a last-string cornerback who is only playing because the 3 players in front of him were injured. Special teams had a mixed night. The return game was hampered by fumbles and dropped balls, but turned up a big play that set up the tying field goal. The punt coverage unit did a good job, overall, and there were no missed field goal attempts. AJ Feeley had a poor game, completing 21 of 38 for 218 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He also had at least 3 passes that were dropped by Bengals' defenders and his touchdown pass went through the hands of a Cincinnati defender. To be fair to him, he was constantly under pressure due to the poor offensive line play, but he made a number of bad decisions. Still, after all the pressure on Feeley, he kept his poise and was still playing confidently and aggressively at the end of the game. Lamar Gordon had 19 carries for just 22 yards, but on 7 of those 19 carries, he was hit in the backfield for a loss. He also caught 8 passes for 44 yards and caught a 20 yard pass on the Dolphins' only touchdown drive. Randy McMichael caught 6 passes for 93 yards and was the Dolphins' vocal leader when he started yelling at his teammates on the sideline to play better. He caught a 29 yard pass on the touchdown drive and had the longest reception of the day for 37 yards. So far this year, McMichael has been the undisputed king of Dolphins' receivers. Chris Chambers had 5 catches for 69 yard, but the Dolphins did not manage to throw deep to him. His best moment was the touchdown catch, where Chamber's talent and concentration allowed him to track the ball after it was knocked up in the air and come down with it right at the back of the endzone. Derrius Thompson and Michael Booker each had one catch for less than 10 yards and were pretty much non-factors. The offensive line, as a unit, were miserable, but most miserable of all was Wade Smith. A number of times, Smith couldn't get set up in time to even lay a finger on Bengals' defensive end Justin Smith. Several other times, he blocked toward the center of the line at the defensive tackle that was Jeno James' responsibility while one or two Bengals defenders just ran around his end and went untouched to the backfield. Right Guard Taylor Whitley also had a very poor game, getting blown off the line or moved out of the way. On defense, Zach Thomas appeared to be everywhere at once, penetrating the backfield, stopping players for losses, knocking passes down and getting sacks. He ended the game with 12 tackles (at least 3 for a loss), 1 sack and one pass knocked down. Junior Seau was next on the tackle list, making 8. While he didn't get a sack, he did blitz regularly and managed to apply pressure on Palmer in a couple of situations. Antuan Edwards continued to show why he starting with 6 tackles, a sack on a safety blitz and two passes defensed. Jason Taylor had 6 tackles, a sack with a beautiful inside move and an interception on a batted ball. He had a brief scare when he left the game due to a foot injury, but later returned. He applied plenty of pressure to Carson Palmer. Sammy Knight was next with 5 tackles, including one stop at the line of scrimmage on 3rd and 2 that stopped a Bengals' drive at the Miami 18. Jimmy Wyrick had 3 tackles but had some problems in coverage on the last Bengals' drive. Morlon Greenwood had 3 tackles and a special teams tackle, with two of his regular tackles being for losses. Chidi Ahanotu had 2 tackles and a sack and did a good job in the defensive line rotation. Bryan Robinson did a credible job starting for the injured Tim Bowens and had 2 solo tackles. Sam Madison had 2 tackles and did a good job blanketing his side of the field. Jay Williams did a good job in the defensive line rotation, getting 2 tackles, but no sacks this week. Jeff Zgonina played a lot for the injured Larry Chester and had 2 tackles. Will Poole got his first start in place of Pat Surtain and Reggie Howard and did a fine job, not giving up any big plays. He had two tackles. Brendon Ayanbadejo had 1 solo tackle and 1 special teams tackle. Larry Chester had 1 solo tackle before he left the game with his injured knee. David Bowens had 1 solo tackle but was otherwise not very visible. Dario Romero got more playing time than he's used to with the injuries to Tim Bowens and Larry Chester. He responded with a sack on Carson Palmer. Sammy Morris and Derrick Pope each contributed special teams tackles. Lamont Brightful had 3 fumbles on punts, but returned one punt 37 yards that set up the tying score. He ended up averaging 11.1 yards per punt return and 24.5 yards per kickoff return. Olindo Mare' hit two field goals and didn't miss any. He also put 3 of his 4 kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks. Matt Turk started strong but faded a little bit as the game went on. He ended up averaging 40 yards per punt and put 3 inside the Bengals' 20. Larry Chester suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter. Will Poole had a minor injury in the 4th quarter, but he should be OK. Jason Taylor injured his foot and was out for a few plays, but finished the game. This game was pretty ugly overall. It was difficult to lose to the Bengals in this manner, especially after coming back to tie the game up in the 4th quarter. It really put a damper on my spirits to watch the Dolphins fight back and then lose after they gave up the only big drive the Bengals managed to put together. There are some positive things to take away from this game, as dismal as it was. First and most important is that AJ Feeley's problems are correctable. The kid has an excellent arm but his inexperience both as an individual and within the system are causing him to make mistakes. Hopefully time and Marc Trestman can help him iron out those problems. The offensive line problems are more difficult to get a handle on. I'm concerned that just rotating personnel on the line isn't going to fix their underlying problems. I don't know if the game has passed Tony Wise by or if it's Chris Foerster who's responsible for the blocking scheme, but it seems clear that there is something wrong with the blocking scheme they're using. I admit that, at this point, my confidence in the team is waning somewhat. I do think they'll get better, but I'm not sure at this time if they'll get better fast enough to turn the season around. They get a good chance to win this week when the Steelers come to Miami. They also get a good chance to practice their blitz pickups as the Steelers aren't known as "Blitzburgh" for nothing.
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